The Modern Mullet Is the It Girl-Approved Haircut for Summer

The mullet has undergone a metamorphosis. Just ask Miley Cyrus, Zendaya, Rihanna, Billie Eilish, Barbie Ferreira and all the cool-girl influencers who have helped give the cut a major glow-up over the past few years.

If you’d have told us in 2020 that the mullet would be back on the map as a go-to chop among some of our favorite tastemakers, we’d never have believed you. But where once you’d be forgiven for associating the cut with ex-rockers and achy breaky hearts (looking at you, Billy Ray Cyrus), it’s been refreshed by a whole new generation, which includes his own daughter, Miley.

Now, it’s become synonymous with rebelliousness, liberation and the kind of gutsy DGAF energy that we could all do with a little more of. So…should we be doing it?

If chat like this makes you want to grab the scissors even more, you’re exactly the type of person the nonconformist cut is aimed at. “The mullet is the anti-fashion hair cut,” says celebrity hairstylist Harry Josh. It’s the ideal alternative for ballsy girls who have grown bored of beachy hair. And, it turns out, there are a lot of them.

“For those wanting to break away from that long, ‘pretty-girl’ look—this is the haircut for them,” says Josh. “This is the cut that says, ‘I don’t care what people think about me.’ It takes a certain amount of courage and attitude to carry off a haircut like that,” he adds.